Fairly quiet start this month, but
turned frantic over the Christmas Break, which woke me up!
I have been quietly enjoying going
out each morning pulling my cray pots and doing kinda average.
It has been patchy with us getting
a few crays one day and lots the next for no apparent reason.
Mackerel and tuna have just
arrived with most hirers landing one or two after Christmas.
The swell before Christmas creating dirty
water has kept them inactive until now.
Short Day Out
Steve
Wilson and Jeremy Webb had a quick
session and lesson on snapper fishing just north of the Sand Patch before
Christmas this month.
They
don't have a lot of fishing experience, but after a bit of trolling without so
much as a sniff, they set anchor in the 7.8m boat in 18 metres of water.
The
baits went down with a handful of chopped mulies to create some interest.
Within minutes Steve was hooked up to a nice snapper, followed by
another,
and then another, while Jeremy landed a small morwong. Another hook-up for
Steve, who was fishing right next to Jeremy and now
letting
them go with a big smile on his face, had a pocketful of jokes aimed at Jeremy.
Jeremy then stated that he was fishing for quality fish such
as
baldchin and dhuies and was trying to avoid snapper! Yeah right! Not long after Jeremy had his day landing a
fair size baldchin.
Bagged
out by 8.00am and delighted, they made a slow troll home, but alas no pelagic
action.
Thevenard
Island
Word is out that there are still some cabins
available on Thevenard Island until March 2013.
The fishing would be very good as it has
been rested for the last 6 months.
You have to ring the Island Manager: Ash and partner Jade, 9184 6444 and see if you can get one.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Ashburton
Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Website:
www.ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Cray Season
It
has been a funny cray season this year. very patchy, with some pots doing well
and others poorly.
We
have had the pots in 15 days starting with the first pull on the 10th December.
This year the rules have
changed
a bit and we are allowed 8 crays per licence and 3 licences per boat. So we had
6 pots in the water
and
this year I fished with Lui Palamara and Sue, my wife, who rotated with Lui's
partner Karen Hartig.
First
pull and we got 5 crays, then 13, 2, missed a day due to big swell, 13, 7, 5,
6, 11, 7, 1, 6, 1, 24 and last day Christmas eve, 14.
This
year I am making a cray fishing movie with my new GoPro camera. Soon to be on
Youtube, will post the link in a future newsletter.
Quite
an amazing HD Video Camera.
Goes
underwater to 60 metres, wide angle and can take great pics as well.
I
have been putting it down the cray rope to film the pot on the bottom. You can
see the shots taken and the small fish around the pots
We
got a lot of berried crays to begin with, that is with eggs, they have to be
returned,
and a shot of a couple of crays in the pot
Underwater
shot of the pot coming up with crays holding on, and gauging them for size.
Have
now pulled my pots in and finished cray fishing. I would like to continue as
the whites continue to run,
but
this time of year all my boats are booked so no way to get out and get to my
pots.
Unexpected Great Day Out?
We are currently on holiday at
Kalbarri in our caravan, which means we had to leave our boat at home in Perth.
After looking at the
costs of charter boats for a
family of four, we could hire a boat for three days for nearly the same cost.
We own a boat building business
in Port Kennedy, called ‘Outlaw Boats’.
To be honest I was not expecting much in a
hire boat, but was pleasantly
surprised with quality, condition and ride. We hired the boat on the 28th
December , my oldest son Zac’s sixteenth
birthday with the hope to catch some of these
big fish we had heard about. With the GPS loaded with waypoints, the advice
given to us by
Laurie and his wife, Sue, as
well as a couple of lures, we set off. We had a great day
with a lot of firsts.
Zac got a Mackerel and a couple of Snappers.
Jake, my youngest son got a heap
of Snappers, including a ‘double-header’.
Also, my wife Peta caught a
Dhuefish and a few Snapper.
This was the first time we’d
caught any of these fish, and here we were catching so many we were throwing
them back. I’m sure we did better in the
hire boat with waypoints than we
ever would have in our own boat. Thank you very much Laurie for your boat and
your advice.
We had a great day and Zac had a
birthday to remember.
Brian Sims
Thanks
for the kind words, Brian, and glad you got into some good fish!
Brian
and Peta's boat building business specialises in aluminium cats and mono hulls.
I had a look at their website: www.outlawboats.com.au, they have some very
nice looking boats!
Rate Rise
As
from next year we will be having a small rate rise.
Unfortunately
everything is still going up so a small
increase as from 1/1/13 will occur. To be fair on those already booked
and paid their deposit/bond they will get
the old price for next year.
Recent Catches
Here is the first mackerel of the season
caught from any of my boats. Landed by Pete Doyle in the 6.1m boat.
On hire with Craig Rolls and a couple of
mates, they had a 2 day hire and picked up this mackerel on the 27th December.
Danny Barrett had a great time as well
landing a yellow-fin tuna around 10kgs the same day. Sorry no pic came through.
The second day saw them land another
yellow-fin about the same size amongst a few bottom fish.
I was out on the same day as Pete Doyle
above, with a couple of mates and picked up this yellow-fin around 10kgs before
heading off to try a bottom fish that ended
up hard work as the fish were just not on the chomp. We landed 5 keepers in the
end however.
On the way back a school of small tuna were
busting up and a chrome slice cast to the school resulted in my first mackerel tuna or kawa kawa I
have ever caught. We don't get them here
very often so it was a surprise to see it surface at the boat.
Last Minute Booking
Nick
Scaffidi and Carlo Talenti called in looking for a boat and found one day free
for the 7.8m boat on the 31st this month.
A
fair bit of trolling the Sand Patch, outer reef and the usual spots resulted in
nothing, so the anchor was set not far from
Bald
face, a spot 20km or so from the river mouth. Fishing was slow but a couple of
snapper were on board, when the
decision
to move was made.
It was at that point when Nick's rod got a
severe bend in it and he could feel the line
rubbing
on the reef but managed to get this great coral trout to the boat.
Carlo
got a couple of pink snapper after a move to another spot
and Nick's girlfriend
Keisha shows off her snapper
Carlos
partner Lana Talenti got her fair share of pinks
while Nick shows his
contribution.
A
mulie under a balloon out the back resulted in a spotted mac for the group as
well.
Bagged
out with 7 snapper and a coral trout and back by lunch time!
Unfortunately
there was a finger print smear on the camera lens resulting in the poor quality
pics!
Sues
Tips and Suggestions
Girls Rule!
No, I don’t mean
Rule number 1, etc. I mean girls really rule! Just take a look at the photo of
me and Lui with our bag-out haul.
Laurie was otherwise occupied, so I went out
with Lui Palamara (Parmigiana to most) and his partner, Karen Hartig. Driving
the boat and
pulling the pots might not be on the agenda for most women but, when I have to,
I can rise to the occasion, as I did
on Sunday. Having anticipated Laurie’s absence
for Sunday, we made sure that the floats were changed over to Karen’s and
Karen came along
to do her duty. We had been having a bad run (one cray on Saturday) and weren’t
confident that it was going
to be worth
pulling the pots. Oh ye of little faith! Lui has been fishing with plastic pots
all season and Laurie has been ribbing him
that they are
kakka catchers. Well Sunday was the day those pots were truly blessed. First
pull was 13 crays, second pot was 17 crays – both
the plastics.
But we hit a snag. Laurie was a bit too efficient cleaning the boat and left us
without a gauge. We decided to seek
assistance from
a nearby boat and they were more than happy to lend us a spare and we were
away. Thanks guys! After the sort out we were still
way ahead with
14 sized keepers. The other pots were not in the same area, so we still had
some doubts about them. One of my pots came up totally
empty! We also
lost one of Laurie’s pots on Saturday, so we were down to pulling 5 pots on
Sunday.
The next pot was
full of cray feelers as it surfaced and produce 6 more keepers. Last pot was
also crawling with crays and,
as luck would
have it, there were 4 keepers. That gave us our bag limit exactly on the nose.
Karen and I decided it was the balance of
female power on board that brought the bonanza of crays. But secretly I can’t
help feeling
that Laurie’s
pot placements should be given due credit. Just don’t tell him or I’ll never
hear the end of it!
Remember, the
quality of your bait is going to be one of the most crucial factors, as for any
fishing… Good bait, good result.
By the way, the
last time I took over from Laurie for the morning, I pulled this monster sized
cray from my pot, which
Laurie admits is
the biggest he has ever seen. So maybe there is something in “girl power”….
Girls still rule!
Sue
Nick Scaffidi landed this big coral trout
anchored on a ledge in 18 metres of water about 19kg north of the river mouth
on the 31st this month. Just scraping in to
win the Bite of the Month for December.
Nice fish Nick!
Up Coming Events In Kalbarri
The Kalbarri Sports Fishing
Classic
1st,
2nd & 3rd March. A Game, Bottom and River Tournament.
Australia Day Fireworks in
Kalbarri
Kalbarri
put on a 30 minute firework display across the river. No need to fight the
traffic,
just
wander down to the foreshore and enjoy!
LeisureCat Ultra Light Kalbarri
We
have a Naming Rights Sponsor for this new tournament.
Please
welcome LeisureCat Australia, retailers of very nice Power Catamarans.
Check
out their website: www.leisurecat.com.au
Date
is the 4th and 5th May next year, when the weather is much better.
A Game
Fishing comp only for lines 6kg, 4kg, 3kg, 2kg and 1kg.
Need a boat for up north?
Remember
I will deliver a boat out to the turn-off for free for those heading north.
Just
ring me from Geraldton and I will meet you there.
Popular Northern Destinations
Island
Manager: Ash and partner Jade, 9184 6444.
There are a few cabins available up till
March 2013, just ask and see if you can get one. However Direction Island is still a good
option and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Ashburton
Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Website: www.ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Email: bookings@gnaraloo.com.au
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
Steep Point
Steep Point Ranger for booking campsites.
Phone:
Paul Dickson - Steep Point 9948 3993
Email:
Ranger@steeppoint.com.au
Dirk Hartog Island
Kieran
Wardle: 08 99481 211 Mob: 0407 383 449
Game,
Bottom and Beach Fishing Action
These
links will take you to Youtube showing some great action video clips taken from
my
boats and also a very good mulloway from the beach.
Archived
Newsletters
After
a lot of effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my
Blogs.
I
have made six blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos @
And
from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos @
And
from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos @
And
from January 2008 to December 2008 with photos @
And
from January 2009 to December 2009 with photos @
And
from January 2010 to December 2010 with photos @
And
from January 2011 to December 2011 with photos @
And
from January 2012 onwards with photos @
They
are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites.
Remember if you rent our accommodation
in Kalbarri you get big discounts on our boats.
This is the one I go by!
